Eye-on-Retail Daily Tipsheet Archives

“Claim: 17-Year-Old Russian Behind Malware Used to Hack Target” by Beth Stebner at NY Daily News. “A 17-year-old Russian national from St. Petersburg was responsible for the malicious programing that allowed for data from Target and Neiman Marcus to be compromised, according to a California-based security firm. IntelCrawler said in a blog post Friday that it identified the creator, who they said wasn’t responsible for the security breaches of the two retailers, but rather sold the software to cybercriminals throughout Eastern Europe.” Read more

“NY Judge: Tiffany Can’t Kill Costco’s “Tiffany Setting” Trademark Claim” by Bill Donahue at Law 360 (Registration required). “A New York federal judge ruled Friday that Costco Wholesale Corp. could proceed on its claim that that “Tiffany setting” is now a merely generic term name for a type of engagement ring, not a trademark of Tiffany & Co.” Read more

“Amazon says it can ship items before customers order” by William Welch at USA Today via CNBC. ” (Amazon) gained a patent last month for what it calls “anticipatory shipping,” the Wall Street Journal reports. Amazon, the Journal reported, says it may box and ship products that it expects customers in a specific area will want, based on previous orders and other factors it gleans from its customers’ shopping patterns, even before they place an online order.” Read more

“New Home Depot Store Opens in Minot, ND” by Jill Hambek at Minot Daily News. “Some unique aspects to the Minot Home Depot store include an additional 96,000 square feet that will be added as an outdoor lumber yard later this year, as well as offering boom delivery of sheet rock and shingles and offering Penske moving truck rentals on site.” Read more / See the pics

“Pictures From Sears, and They’re Not All Pathetic” by Rocco Pendola at The Street. “Rewardable had its people visit 120 JCP and 80 Sears stores across the country last weekend…14% of respondents say they’ll visit Sears more over the next three months than they have in the previous three months. 78% will visit Sears the same amount over the next three months. 8% will visit Sears less.” Read more / See the pics

” ‘Depot the Cat’ Kicked Out of Its Home – a Home Depot store – after 13 years; Online Petition to Keep Reaches 750 Signatures” by Elizabeth Rawlins at WSFA 12 NBC. “Being an animal lover, I’d get rid of management before I’d get rid of the cat,” said Bogenrief. There is even a petition that was started online that has reached more 750 signatures. But according to Home Depot officials, they aren’t kicking her to the curb until they find someone to adopt her.” Read more / See the video

“Broncos Fans Rush Dick’s Sporting Goods Stores” by Jaclyn Allen at ABC 7 News. “Broncos fans are rushing sporting goods stores to get their AFC Championship shirts, and printing shops are working overnight Sunday to keep up with demand. “We’ve already run out of some of the styles,” said Brandon Yergey with Dick’s Sporting Goods in Belmar. “Crowds rushed in right after the game to snatch them up. We should be re-stocked by (Monday).” Read more / See the video

“PR headache: Walmart under fire after customer takes photos of tanks full of dead and dying fish” by Alex Greig at Daily Mail Online. “Donna Lohmeyer was with her young grandson when the pair went to look at the live fish at the Flanders Walmart outlet.’Most [of the fish] were dead, and rotting in the tanks… Many were still swimming — starving, freezing, choking on foul water full of ammonia and algae’. Read more

“How Peapod plans to beat Amazon and Wal-Mart” by Brigid Sweeney at Chicago Crain’s (Registration required). “Peapod, a unit of Dutch retail conglomerate Royal Ahold NV since 2001, also is starting to deliver office supplies and other bulk orders to businesses. He says the Skokie-based service ultimately wants business-to-business deliveries to account for as much as 30 percent of overall revenue.” Read more

“Retailers finding booming market buying used electronics” by John Ewoldt at Star-Tribune. “So many sites will pay cash to people who mail in used devices (Gazelle.com, Buybackworld.com and Nextworth.com) that aggregators such as Usell.com have popped up, listing bids from multiple resellers. In fact, an hour after Apple CEO Tim Cook debuted the iPhone 5s and 5c models on Sept. 10, Gazelle was getting 600 offers per second on earlier models, according to Anthony Scarsella, chief gadget officer at Gazelle.com.” Read more

“Dad gets OfficeMax mail addressed ‘Daughter Killed In Car Crash’ “ by Matt Pearce at LA Times via Chicago Tribune. “It was addressed to “Mike Seay, Daughter Killed In Car Crash.” Strange as that sounds, the mail reached the right guy. Seay’s daughter Ashley, 17, was killed in a car crash with her boyfriend last year. OfficeMax somehow knew…In a statement, OfficeMax said the mailing “is a result of a mailing list rented through a third-party provider” and offered its apologies to Seay…The company, however, had not personally called Seay to apologize.” Read more